In November, a good portion of the Ardsley community rallied around the mother of a high school football player after learning she had terminal cancer. Thousands of dollars were raised and the family often received homemade meals from strangers and friends alike.

A month ago, Shivonie Deokaran moved out of town with her two sons as questions swirled about the seriousness of her illness. Ardsley police now say they are investigating but would not discuss details of the case.

Over shopping carts at the local grocery store and in the high school hallways, residents are sharing concern and various theories about how they may have been hoodwinked.

Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner said if rumors are true, it would hurt the community.

"I hope she has a long life but this really makes it harder to help people who really need assistance. Every year there are one or two people who really break your heart and you want to help. You don't want to lose credibility," said Feiner, who supported the community's fundraising efforts.

Deokaran was not available by phone this week. Her boyfriend, Nikhlesh Parekh, who has moved with the family to Florida, said she would not speak with a reporter about the issue.

Parekh said the support from the community was legitimately needed and greatly appreciated. He said she remains seriously ill but that there have been improvements since she went off chemotherapy and radiation about four months ago. She posted a video on Facebook on New Year's Eve that she had gotten good news regarding her "blood count."

A teary-eyed Deokaran said on the video "I just got a call from my doctor telling me, confirming with me that my blood count is up. You have no idea how much that means. It's the best way to end the old year and start the new year."

Parekh blamed the uproar on his ex-girlfriend, saying she and her boyfriend had spread rumors about Deokaran to get back at Parekh for failing to pay child support. He said the reason they moved was that it was too cold for Deokaran in New York - but he also said the rumors were causing undue stress for her. He said before they left they provided medical records attesting to Deokaran's condition to some of the parents who had been most helpful, to allay any concerns they might have.

"It's unfortunate someone with cancer has to prove to anybody they have cancer," he said.

Carrie Spiro, who lived next door to Deokaran when she was on Virginia Street, agreed.

“Nik and Shivonie were the nicest people on the block. She is sick and the fact that she would have to prove it is pretty disgusting…I know she is ill. I saw it with my own eyes. Almost on a daily basis. She was stuck in her house for periods of time and was too sick to care for her children and her dog. The bills for her treatment were insurmountable. Nik started a car wash business and was out there busting his butt washing cars to pay those bills. I am usually a very good judge of character and I believe them 100%.”

He spoke about astronomical medical bills for the cancer treatments that they could not afford because she doesn't have insurance. But he said they would not provide medical records to the newspaper. Explaining why they hadn't turned them over to police, he said there was a "legal process" that had to be followed, suggesting Deokaran couldn't just give her own records to police.

Fundraiser raises thousands

A spaghetti dinner in November, hosted by her son Ram Hoobraj's Ardsley High School football teammates - Shivonie's married name was Hoobraj before her 2012 divorce - was believed to have raised about $16,000 and two GoFundMe efforts raised an additional $35,000. One, "Shivonie's Fight Against Leukemia", was created by a friend in October 2014. The other was by Ram in late August 2015.

He wrote that doctors had recently told his mom she had 18 months to live, they had only a few weeks to find a new apartment since they recently lost their home and were worried that they would not be able to keep her beloved dog Gia.

Deokaran herself took to crowd funding sites twice in the interim to raise funds for the couple's restaurant, Samosa Cafe, in Dobbs Ferry.

In February 2015, she and Ram went on Kickstarter seeking $50,000 for contractors to finish work on the restaurant, saying that her leukemia diagnosis in August 2014 had "put the brakes" on the Samosa financing.

Ardsley fundraiser poster(Photo11: poster image)

The effort drew paltry results, raising only $72 online in the next four weeks. But the restaurant did manage to open in March 2015. In June, Deokaran again sought $50,000, claiming that several (which were unnamed) national chains had expressed interest in carrying the restaurant's samosa pies and they needed money to accommodate the added demand.

That request raised $190 online.

A few weeks before the spaghetti dinner, Samosa closed, purportedly for renovations, according to the restaurant's posts on Facebook. It never reopened.

The Guyana-born Deokaran has also run a portrait photography company and a concierge business, WeCometoYouCarWash.com. She and Parekh recently expanded the latter to include a laundry service.

Seeds of doubt

Adele Mahabir, Parekh's ex-girlfriend and mother of his two children, said she was suspicious immediately after learning of the fundraiser because she had been hearing Parekh talk about his "dying girlfriend" for a few years as she fought him in Family Court. He has unpaid judgments against him for child support and state tax warrants totaling $41,600 since 2009, according to Westchester County records.

Mahabir, who lives in Connecticut, insisted that she and her boyfriend had shared their concerns with others but were in no way responsible for all the doubts people were having.

Friends and acquaintances in town became suspicious when Deokaran told them that her doctor, who was affiliated with Memorial Sloan Kettering, had died while visiting Nepal during a massive earthquake there in April 2015. Only a handful of Americans died in that quake and none were doctors from the famed cancer center, according to reports.

Parekh said the complicating factor for Deokaran was a tumor on her liver that doctors couldn't get under control, which he suggested is what led them to tell her she only had 18 months to live in August. He criticizes them for doing that, for the stress it places on a patient. He said the tumor is now under control and that she would have certainly died if she continued chemo and radiation.

Instead, he said, they pursued a path of non-traditional medicine and proper diet. He said they remain optimistic but recognize there is no cure for leukemia and that she is dying.

"We're fighters. We're going to fight this," he said.

Small town USA

Deokaran and sons lived for two years in Dobbs Ferry and attended schools there before moving closer to the Dobbs Ferry/Ardsley border, and switching school districts. A Southern Westchester "rivertown", Dobbs Ferry is perched along the Hudson River, sandwiched between Hastings-on-Hudson and Irvington. Ardsley sits on its fourth border.

Ardsley has fewer than 5,000 residents and covers less than one and a half square miles. Streets lined with mid-century houses crisscross much of the village, with pockets of luxury homes increasing in recent years. Firefighters and teachers live there as do many finance executives, engineers and doctors. The median home value, according to Zillow, is $588,800. The median income was $130,000, according to documents.

There are a few restaurants and leafy parks and the House of Sports, a popular sport center. Situated along several major highways with few high-profile attractions of its own, the town is often a place people pass through to get somewhere else. But its schools are among the best in the state and most activity revolves around them.

A community rallies

The Ardsley High School varsity football team hosted the November spaghetti dinner fundraiser at the village's firehouse a few months after one of Ram's coaches learned of Shivonie's terminal cancer. Full of sympathy, Coach Colin Maier reached out to Rob Wootten, the father of one of his players. Wootten, a father of five, organized the event, encouraging family, neighbors and friends to help out.

Under sunny autumnal skies, local families and jersey-clad high school football players from Dobbs Ferry, Blind Brook and Tuckahoe streamed into the fire house. Ardlsey football players spooned meatballs onto plates. Chorus students sang for guests. The place was packed.

Inspired by the feelgood event, Wendy Wels wrote this Facebook post after attending, "We might have too much traffic and one too many dry cleaners here but gd (sic) I love this town. The community is so full of love and support. So proud to call this place home. If you haven't gone yet, go before 5 and watch your faith in humanity get restored."

Wels, among the many Ardsley parents who delivered meals to Shivonie's home, said of the latest news. "The entire community stood behind her and her children. If it was a scam, it’s deplorable."

Wootten also said it would be a shame if a police investigation found evidence that the fundraising was done under false pretenses.

"I’m not a rich guy," Wootten said. "The only thing I could donate was time and that’s what I did. If it’s true, it’s a shame. No one was physically hurt, but for the kids and all the people who volunteered their time, it’s a shame."

Maier could not be reached for comment.

Greenburgh's Feiner took to social media to urge people to donate on Ram's GoFundMe page. He posted on Greenburgh's official website, on Twitter and "on every Facebook page I could think of. They must have raised fifteen to twenty-thousand dollars the first day," Feiner said.

Ardsley resident Glenn Leibel, owner of Robert Jacobson Sports, helped to promote the spaghetti dinner through the many sports leagues his company runs.

Town of Greenburgh page(Photo11: page)

"Our small community always comes and bands together to support one another. I feel bad for the organizers and everyone involved who helped out with open hearts," Leibel said. "For this to happen, if it's true, is just a shame. I hope there’s no long lasting effect for others who really need help."